What is metadata and why is it so important?

Metadata. It might sound scary, but its pretty simple. Its basically lots of little bits of information which help to identify your song. It’s used to help describe, explain, locate, retrieve, use and manage the information that you upload.

In a practical sense, metadata makes it super easy for us and music supervisors to find out if track is suitable, allowing them to see the BPM or whether the lyrics are explicit. Also, if a supe likes your track, but it’s not totally relevant right now, they may come back to the track in a few projects time, and having the right keywords and metadata will help them find the track and get in touch, meaning being organised will have got you an unexpected sync!

You don’t have to know everything, but it’s vital that the data that you do provide is correct because it can mean the difference between your song getting used or not. Plus, the more accurate information you can provide us, the quicker we can process your application!

What you should include:

Using properties, iTunes, or other more specialised software, you can edit a track’s metadata and make the sync nerds here very happy. Don’t worry if you haven’t been doing this or if you’ve just been uploading links, you can also enter as much information as possible when you upload the track to the site. If you’re unsure about anything though, don’t worry about either leaving it blank or getting in touch.

We ask for MP3s so we can view and add metadata if needed, instead of converting wav files and trying to find as much information as we can from scratch. If the track is successful, we will in most cases ask for the wav file.

Song Title – If another artist is featured on the track, name it in the name, eg. ‘Title (ft. Big Harry)’ and if it’s a cover add that in too, eg. ‘Title (Little Tony cover)’.

Comments – While these are optional, they are also very welcome. Here you can add key words like female vocals, unreleased, sounds like Taylor Swift, track mood eg. happy and love as well as your label, ISRC, PRO Tunecode, dogs name, favourite colour and if the track is explicit. If your lyrics aren’t easily available online, you can add a link or the lyrics here too.

Artist – Your artist name

Album – Has it been released on an album? Which one? This is so supes know exactly what recording has been used.

Album Artist – If it has been on an album, this just asks who’s. So probably yours.

Year – When was it released (yeah, a few of these are pretty simple)

# – Was it on an album? Which track number was it?

Genre – What genre is it most like? If it doesn’t fit in a box, don’t worry about it

Composer – Full legal names of track writers with % of ownerships and their PRO CAE/IPI (if possible). Public domain? Just write that, along with the composer, if you know them, too.

Grouping – Do any companies own the masters or publishing? List them here and their splits if applicable eg. Tracy’s Publishing Company (owns 50% publishing), Kenny’s Big ol’ Music Label (owns 45% masters) If you control the song completely, add your name and ‘One Stop’. Contact details for all should be included too (name, phone number and email).

BPM – A number of online services are available to find the track BPM, but you may already know from the writing or producing process. This is super helpful to see if tracks fit the pace of the piece.

See, syncs, data and all the big important things aren’t so scary, just a tad boring.